Category Archives: Politics

Guessing the Next PM

By Julian Dierkes In response to some discussions on Twitter, I now offer this prediction board in three categories, time to election of new PM, coalition that will elect the new PM, and the new PM. While individuals may choose to … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Will Green Party, Curios, Democratic Party, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | 3 Comments

What/Who Comes After Altankhuyag

By Julian Dierkes In the morning of Nov 5, 2014, 11 of the 17 members of the standing committee of the State Great Khural voted in support of a vote of no confidence in PM Altankhuyag. This passed the motion … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Will Green Party, Democratic Party, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Political Turmoil – November 2014

This is approximately the third time that the Altankhuyag government seems to have faced serious opposition in parliament as well as in the DP itself. PM Altankhuyag has been surprisingly and impressively skilled at staying in the PM’s position despite … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, JD Democratization, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | 4 Comments

Progress on Oyu Tolgoi?

By Julian Dierkes The Mongolian government has been battling a homemade economic crisis for some two years now. It has been a largely self-inflicted crisis brought on by some hasty policy decisions regarding investments that have led to a massive … Continue reading

Posted in China, Foreign Investment, Foreign Policy, Mining, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy, Russia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Caveats for the Mongolia-China Strategic Partnership

China and Mongolia upgraded their bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership in 2011. Last year, both countries agreed to the implementation of a detailed action plan to strengthen their strategic partnership in the five specific areas of politics, security, the … Continue reading

Posted in China, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Mongolia and ... | Tagged | Leave a comment

DFATD Announcement of FM Baird Visit

On July 22 the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development confirmed previous reporting in the Mongolia press that Foreign Minister Baird will be visiting Mongolia later this week: In his first trip to Mongolia, Baird will discuss the … Continue reading

Posted in Bilateral Aid, Canada, Development, Foreign Investment, Foreign Policy, International Relations | Tagged | Leave a comment

FM Baird to Visit Mongolia

According to Mongolian news sources ( 24 Tsag | infomongolia.com), Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird will be visiting Ulaanbaatar July 23-25. There’s no official Canadian announcement as of July 20, but let’s assume that this visit is really happening, after … Continue reading

Posted in Bilateral Aid, Business, Canada, Diaspora, Foreign Policy, International Agreements, International Relations, Mongolia and ... | Tagged | Leave a comment

In Ulaanbaatar with EITI Project Graduate Students

Together with Dirk van Zyl, a colleague in UBC’s NBK Institute of Mining Engineering, I supervised an interdisciplinary group of graduate students in a project on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and focused especially on EITI reporting in Mongolia … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Governance, Mining | Tagged | Leave a comment

Rosneft Pipelines to and Through Mongolia

Events in Ukraine create both uncertainties and opportunities in Ulaanbaatar. A changing balance of power in Europe and closer ties between two regional powers, Russia and China, certainly create new uncertainty for Mongolia. With their country’s “regionless” fate of living … Continue reading

Posted in China, Infrastructure, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., Russia, United States | Tagged | Leave a comment

State-Sponsored Formalization of Household Herding in Rural Bayanhongor

“A herder is master of 1000 professions.” President Elbegdorj, printed at the top of herder diplomas The Presence of the State in Rural Mongolia Over the course of my dissertation fieldwork in Mongolia, I spent a considerable amount of time … Continue reading

Posted in Ariell Ahearn, Countryside, Education, Nomadism, Presidential 2013, Research on Mongolia | 1 Comment

Foreign Policy Implications of Mongolian Crony Democracy

Though considered a healthy—albeit developing—democracy, Mongolia has in recent years become dominated by the competing interests of its political and business factions, whose collective actions undermine the country’s democratization trends as well as complicate Ulaanbaatar’s foreign policy. For now, Mongolia … Continue reading

Posted in China, Democracy, Foreign Policy, Mongolia and ..., Party Politics, Russia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Is the Altankhuyag Government Teetering?

Prime Minister Altankhuyag has been leading the government for almost two years. To an outside observer like me, he has remained a puzzle in how he has been able to keep a coalition and a divided party united first for … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

Mongolia in the 2014 Social Progress Index

[This post was written jointly by Undral Amarsaikhan and Julian Dierkes] On April 2, the Social Progressive Imperative released its 2014 Social Progress Index. For the first time, this included Mongolia. The Social Progressive Index is an index of indices … Continue reading

Posted in Air Pollution, Corruption, Development, Economics, Education, Global Indices, Governance, Nomadism, Policy, Policy, Primary and Secondary Education, Research on Mongolia, Social Change, Undral Amarsaikhan, Water | Tagged | 1 Comment

Mongolia-Australia Mining Partnership

During FM Lu Bold’s visit to Australia, there has now been an announcement of a grand “Mining Partnership” between Mongolia and Australia to the tune of A$20m over 5 years. From Julie Bishop, Australian Foreign Minister’s website: Mongolian Foreign Minister … Continue reading

Posted in Australia, Bilateral Aid, Development, Foreign Policy, Governance, Mongolia and ... | Tagged | Leave a comment

Здравствуйте!: Why It’s Not about -Stans

By Brandon Miliate I recently came across and article in The Atlantic, which reported that Kazakhstani President  Nursultan Nazarbayev had suggested that perhaps the suffix –stan was responsible for Kazakhstan’s supposedly low global profile. He mentioned Mongolia, as a country … Continue reading

Posted in Central Asia, Democracy, Governance, Inner Asia, International Relations, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and ..., Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment